Tag: Texas Rangers

Cal Stark signs as MLB undrafted free agent

Former Vol Cal Stark signs with the Texas Rangers.

Former Tennessee catcher Cal Stark signed as an undrafted free agent with the Rangers in Major League Baseball on Monday.

“A championship player getting a chance to play for a championship organization,” Tennessee announced.

Stark played for the Vols from 2023-24 after transferring from Weatherford College (2022) and Navarro College (2023).

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound catcher appeared 106 games, including 89 starts for the Vols. He recorded 16 home runs, 47 RBIs, 54 runs, 38 walks, two stolen bases and a .992 fielding percentage.

Stark hit 11 home runs and 30 RBIs last season.

Stark and Tennessee won the national championship, Southeastern Conference Tournament and the SEC regular-season title in 2024.

The former Vol is from Farragut High School in Farragut, Tennessee.

PHOTOS: Tennessee baseball celebrates winning 2024 national championship

Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire

Rangers select Dylan Dreiling in second-round of MLB draft

Texas Rangers draft Tennessee’s Dylan Dreiling in the second-round.

The 2024 Major League Baseball draft is taking place Sunday-Tuesday in Fort Worth, Texas. The draft is being held in conjunction with MLB’s All-Star Game on Tuesday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

Former Tennessee outfielder Dylan Dreiling was selected in the second-round (No. 65 overall) by Texas.

Dreiling appeared in 121 games, including 94 starts, for the Vols from 2023-24. He recorded a .328 batting average, 30 home runs, 95 RBIs and 92 runs.

Tennessee won its first national championship in program history in 2024.

The Vols also won the Southeastern Conference East division, the SEC regular-season championship and SEC Tournament last season.

PHOTOS: Tennessee baseball celebrates winning national championship

Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire

A Rangers fan nearly fell into the Padres dugout trying to catch a foul ball, gets called a ‘clown’

What was this guy thinking??

Uh, hey buddy. No offense or anything, but a foul ball isn’t worth this, and thank goodness the netting was there to save you.

I’m talking to the Texas Rangers fan who saw a foul ball heading his way at Wednesday’s game against the San Diego Padres. This guy decided it was a good idea to jump out of his seat, stand on top of the dugout and try to catch it. But then he stepped over, and the protective netting stopped him from completely falling in.

The broadcast asked “what is this clown doing?” Good question. Luckily, he’s OK. Only players should go into the dugout, right?

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Former Florida OF Wyatt Langford hits for cycle with Texas Rangers

Wyatt Langford was cleaning out his locker in Gainesville around this time last year. Now he’s hitting for the cycle in the majors.

One of the hardest things for any batter in baseball to do is hit for the cycle, but former Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford has accomplished the feat in just his 60th game as a major leaguer.

Langford did it all in five innings, starting with a triple in the fourth. e doubled in the fifth and legged out an infield single in the sixth, setting up a dramatic moment in the eighth inning.

With two men on base, Langford blasted a three-run shot down the left-field line for the 345th cycle in MLB history. It’s also the 11th in Texas Rangers history and the 15th cycle by a rookie.

Somehow, Langford is not the quickest Ranger to hit for a cycle. Oddibe McDowell did it in 59 games in 1985, but Langford is still the youngest Ranger to do it at 22 years and 229 days old. He was drafted fourth overall less than a year ago.

Wyatt Langford as a Florida Gator

The cycle was one of the few feats Langford did not accomplish as a hitter in Gainesville. A unanimous All-American in 2023, Langford is the second-highest Gators player ever taken in the MLB Draft.

He had a career .363/.471/.746 slash line across 496 at-bats. Langford also belted 47 home runs as a Gator, including a record-breaking 26-homer season in 2022. He owned the career-slugging percentage record before Jac Caglianone broke it.

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A mariachi band covered Creed’s Higher at a Rangers game and it’s so beautiful

This is a beautiful cover right here.

Creed gets a lot of flak for being, well, Creed, but the thing is: the band means a lot to the Texas Rangers, as we saw in their run to a World Series last season.

So here’s a moment from Monday’s New York Mets game at the Rangers’ Globe Life Field in which a mariachi band covered their hit Higher, and while we got only a snippet, I am pleading with the internet to give us the full version.

It’s seriously beautiful, the vibes are immaculate, the instrumentation very sweet. See if you agree with me in the video below:

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Seahawks DT Byron Murphy threw first pitch at the Mariners game

The Mariners are hosting the reigning World Series champions, the Texas Rangers, for a crucial divisional series this weekend.

The Seattle Seahawks may have drafted Byron Murphy II to play defense for them, but there’s nothing that says he can’t try his hand at a little baseball… at least, for ceremonial purposes.

Last night at the Mariners game, the Seahawks’ first round draft choice threw out the opening pitch. So far, I think it is safe to say the Seattle faithful are excited about Murphy’s presense in the Emerald City, regardless of which sport he is participating in.

The Mariners are hosting the reigning World Series champions, the Texas Rangers, for a crucial divisional series this weekend. Fortunately, Seattle prevailed in game one as they held on for a narrow 3-2 victory on Friday night. As it stands, the Mariners are currently 41-31 and hold a 6.5 lead over the 33-36 Rangers for first place in the AL West.

It is always fun to see a little crossover between the Seahawks and Mariners. Last year, Julio Rodriguez raised the iconic 12th Man Flag before the game against the Steelers. The year prior, catcher Cal Raleigh had similar honors as well.

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The broadcast crew for Tigers-Rangers couldn’t hide their contempt for an outrageously bad strike call

How in tarnation is this a strike?

During Monday night’s Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers game, the horrid state of MLB officiating reared its ugly head once more.

On a pitch from Tiger Beau Brieske to Ranger Leody Taveras, the latter chose to hold his swing and not take a potential out on the attempt.

However, the umpire called it a strike that sent Taveras back to the dugout, and the Bally Sports Southwest crew just laughed in disbelief at how bad the call was.

It’s beyond the pale for an umpire to call such a clear ball like that a strike, and you know it’s bad when a broadcast crew holds a call in such contempt.

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Local teams’ success makes it a tough time to be a Cowboys fan

The recent success of the Dallas Mavericks, Stars and Texas Rangers makes it a tough time to be a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. | From @BenGrimaldi

What a tough time it is to be a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. Unless, of course, you’re a fan of the other three major sports teams in the area.

It’s been an offseason where the club has basically remained dormant and failed to sign any of their prominent free agents. Dallas followed that up with a draft graded as the worst in the division. And now comes the success of the local major sports teams that surround them.

Both the Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks have advanced to the conference finals in their respective leagues, the NHL and the NBA, which comes on the heels of the Texas Rangers winning major league baseball’s World Series.

That leaves Jerry Jones’ team on the outside looking in when it comes to DFW success. The Cowboys are the only team in the four major sports who hasn’t made the final four recently, or in the last 28 years.

Worse, it’s a fact did not go unnoticed. It didn’t take long for the Cowboys to be mocked for their futility after the triumphs of the Stars and Mavs over the weekend.

The local FOX sports network noted the years…

While the FOX Sports NFL account noted the days.

Fans also began to chime in, at first mocking the team…

And then the GM and owner was caught in the crossfire.

For their part, Cowboys players aren’t showing any signs of jealousy as star defensive players Micah Parson and Trevon Diggs sat courtside for the Mavericks’ series-clinching win. And the social media team for the team is all for the success of their counterparts as the #OneForDallas hashtag has been embraced.

For the Dallas area fans who like all the professional teams, it’s a great time to be a fan. However, for those who only support the Cowboys or for out of state fans, seeing the achievements of the other franchises stings. The futility of the Cowboys has hit a new low, regardless of the success from the Mavericks, Rangers, or Stars, but the accomplishments from these three local teams exposes just how bad it’s gotten for America’s Team on the field.

Cowboys backers have long been chided for being bandwagon fans, but that’s a claim that no one would admit to these days. It’s great to see the playoff success of the surrounding teams, something Dallas’ football team hasn’t experienced in a long time. But being reminded of that futility so close to home makes it a tough time to be a Cowboys fan if you don’t root for the Mavericks or Stars.

You can chat with or follow Ben on twitter @BenGrimaldi

1 brutal graph shows just how far behind the Cowboys are to other Dallas-area teams in recent playoff success

The Cowboys are down bad compared to other Dallas-area teams.

While ESPN’s SportsCenter was just presenting a factual graph about Dallas-area sports teams, the Dallas Cowboys caught some hysterical grief for how they’ve done in the playoffs lately compared to their fellow city franchises.

The graph showed the last time that all Dallas-area teams have reached their respective conference finals, which is within the last season for the Dallas Mavericks, Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers.

For the Cowboys, well, it’s been a whopping 28 seasons since reaching the NFC championship game. That is absolutely brutal.

As much as the Cowboys are one of the most talked-about teams in professional sports, it sure looks like we should be paying much more attention to the Mavericks, Stars and Rangers until the Cowboys can end this 28-season conference drought.

If you’re a Dallas sports fan, you’ve had a pretty great run lately… outside of the Cowboys, of course. Until they can find more success in the playoffs, they’ll have to cede the spotlight to the other Dallas-area teams.

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Former Gators OF Wyatt Langford earns opening day roster spot

Former Florida outfielder Wyatt Langford, drafted fourth overall last year, will make the Texas Rangers’ MLB roster on Opening Day.

Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy confirmed that outfielder Wyatt Langford, the fourth overall draft pick in the 2023 draft out of Florida, would join the MLB team on Opening Day at just 22 years old.

Langford’s journey to The Show happened incredibly fast. Viewed as the second-best position player in the draft — behind LSU‘s Dylan Crews, who was reassigned to minor league camp yesterday — Langford was passed up by the Detroit Tigers as the expected third overall pick.

That made things easy for the Rangers. All Texas had to do was take the most pro-ready bat in the draft pool and let him do his thing. Langford set the home run record at Florida in 2022 (Jac Caglianone broke it a year later), and he

For the record, those in Gainesville were shocked when the Tigers passed him up. It’s hard to say he’s played with a chip on his shoulder since, but he’s been on an absolute tear since joining the pro ranks.

Langford started off, as most draftees do, in the complex league. At 21 years old, he was expected to be one of the most polished hitters in a league filled with teenage prospects, so a move to High-A Hickory came after just three games, skipping the Low-A level entirely.

Twenty-four games with the Crawdads is the most Langford spent at any level. He slashed .333/.453/.644 over 106 plate appearances with a 17.0% strikeout and walk rate —  those are elite numbers, for anyone who isn’t a baseball nerd.

Twelve games with Double-A Frisco produced even better results, so Langford ended the season on a five-game stint in Triple-A. An 18-game spring training audition appeared somewhat of a formality before Bochy officially announced Langford’s impending call-up.

Langford is on the fast track to MLB stardom, and he has a real chance to go down as one of the greatest Gators in the pros. Those are lofty expectations to set for someone who just turned 22 years old, but Langford hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down since he converted from being a catcher in 2022.

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